Geekzone and Adblock

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#362605 3-Aug-2010 20:09

Now although i have not received a email about this i do feel the need to add my own comment since a lot of others here have.

Yes the email may have come across in bad taste for some however it does not change the simple fact that 1, It does not say you have to enable adverts and 2 that we are members / users of a great website that needs the support of it's users in whatever way they can. On a 3rd note this is actually a site run by someone who spends a lot of time and effort to provide the sevice to us. If Mauricio feels the need to send out such a email as the one many have received he is well within his rights.

These would be the same rights as us as users have to take into consideration what he is trying to achieve, Whether we take on board the suggestions or not that is for you the individual to decide. If you don't like the way the website is run there is nothing stopping you from going elsewhere.

Personally i feel that if the site was effected in a way that it ceased to operate then I would be the one missing out. Mauricio does a great job as do the other moderators here shame some of you see the email as a personal thing.

CYaBro

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#362615 3-Aug-2010 20:34

Just a quick question about ad blocking detection, how do you know if someone is using an ad blocker?
If someone was using something like Untangle at their internet gateway, and not some software installed in a browser, would you still be able to detect it?

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

richms

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#362659 3-Aug-2010 21:27

I do find the animated fading ones to have a real negative impact on the usability when I am on RDP, but here is largly ok for not having them. Flashblock is effective at sorting that crap out, at least until they start to use DHTML to deliver them with flashless toys being used a lot by some people.

Richard rich.ms

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#362717 4-Aug-2010 00:05

CYaBro: Just a quick question about ad blocking detection, how do you know if someone is using an ad blocker?

There's a JS file with a specific name that ABP (and similar) will block. It contains a div tag which (I assume, as I didn't look any further) will be tested for. If it exists, assume no active ad blocker. Otherwise, assume active ad blocker.

rm *

chakkaradeep

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#363222 4-Aug-2010 19:41

bcourtney:
Trying to have a go at Mauricio for SUGGESTING you think about adding Geekzone to your adblock whitelist is just ridiculous.

I don't think anyone here is having a go at Mauricio. Rather users are discussing what has been done is probably not the right way. You cannot expect everyone who is replying here to give a suggestion.

By the way, here is how I think this can be improved. I do think many people know about the site www.istartedsomething.com - The site owner Long Zheng has recently added some additions to his web site which is:

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#363238 4-Aug-2010 20:42

chakkaradeep: By the way, here is how I think this can be improved. I do think many people know about the site www.istartedsomething.com - The site owner Long Zheng has recently added some additions to his web site which is:

Not going to work for a site, such as this, that heavily depends on ads to "keep the lights on"

Lias

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#364418 6-Aug-2010 20:12

One possible revenue source.. Charge for Geekzone Pizza night! Even at $10 a head, that would still be in the order of $1500-1800 (aprox 60 guests x3 nights allowing for a few noshows). Enough to keep the servers running a few more days at least :-)

Plus I dont think anyone could complain about lack of value.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.

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rscole86

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#364422 6-Aug-2010 20:15

I think part of the draw card for the pizza evenings is seeing business' get behind it, and having those who's services we use, give something back to us. It may be difficult to get the levels of sponsorship we are use to if they know we are paying for it.

freitasm

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#364429 6-Aug-2010 20:25

Lias: One possible revenue source.. Charge for Geekzone Pizza night! Even at $10 a head, that would still be in the order of $1500-1800 (aprox 60 guests x3 nights allowing for a few noshows). Enough to keep the servers running a few more days at least :-)

Plus I dont think anyone could complain about lack of value.

Lias, are you serious? $1500 pays for a month of colocation, firewall, traffic, peering. We would have to promote three Geekzone pizza evenins every month just to keep servers running... Not counting the costs to actually be there at the pizza (travel, accommodation). And the time it takes to organise each one of these events.

Obviously nothing left to pay tax, salaries, and other expenses.

You folks have no idea how much it costs to run a business...

*sigh*

freitasm

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#364431 6-Aug-2010 20:34

chakkaradeep:
bcourtney:
Trying to have a go at Mauricio for SUGGESTING you think about adding Geekzone to your adblock whitelist is just ridiculous.

I don't think anyone here is having a go at Mauricio. Rather users are discussing what has been done is probably not the right way. You cannot expect everyone who is replying here to give a suggestion.

By the way, here is how I think this can be improved. I do think many people know about the site www.istartedsomething.com - The site owner Long Zheng has recently added some additions to his web site which is:

Chaks, I think you are too comfortable getting your salary every month, and forget I work full time on Geekzone.

This means I also have to use my time and put a lot of thought into the business and look at lots of numbers. I know exactly how many pages we serve, how many people log into Geekzone, how many page views people view while logged in, while logged out, how many people come from search engines, etc...

If we turn ads off by default and expect people to turn ads on, a few things would happen.

1.People like you wouldn't turn ads on anyway
2.People that visit us only, because they come from a search engine, and never come back would be an unrecoverable revenue loss. And because I look at our numbers I know straight away this would instantly kill the viability of running this site
3.Many people would simply forget to turn ads on

In another words, your suggestion doesn't stack up.

I think what many people don't realise is that:

1.We are a very small publisher
2.I have to pay myself a salary. After all I work here full time. I have to bring food home - I don't think any of you work for free?
3.Server colocation, hosting, peering, and traffic all cost big money.

We are talking about millions of pages a month, not a few page views in a single blog. Geekzone is currently in the top 30 New Zealand-based websites in number of unique visitors. I think you folks still think we could be running Geekzone on a $20 a month shared server.

More *sigh*...

Lias

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#364438 6-Aug-2010 20:46

freitasm:
Lias: One possible revenue source.. Charge for Geekzone Pizza night! Even at $10 a head, that would still be in the order of $1500-1800 (aprox 60 guests x3 nights allowing for a few noshows). Enough to keep the servers running a few more days at least :-)

Plus I dont think anyone could complain about lack of value.

Lias, are you serious? $1500 pays for a month of colocation, firewall, traffic, peering. We would have to promote three Geekzone pizza evenins every month just to keep servers running... Not counting the costs to actually be there at the pizza (travel, accommodation). And the time it takes to organise each one of these events.

Obviously nothing left to pay tax, salaries, and other expenses.

You folks have no idea how much it costs to run a business...

*sigh*

Mauricio, I wasnt suggesting you use it as the solitary revenue source, just one possible alternative. I really enjoyed the one I attended this year and I (McScrooge himself) would happily pay $10, or probably even $20 to attend another one. It might also reduce the number of noshows you get.

Alternatively, perhaps you could restrict attendance to subscribers. That might motivate some more people to subscribe.

Just my 2 cents.

freitasm

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#364441 6-Aug-2010 20:50

The problem is that to run each pizza it costs $25 per person. I already have to beg and implore around for sponsorship. Then we have to get another $20 per person for drinks.

Venues charge per person even if people don't show up, which means that we usally end up paying $400 in no shows.

We already thought of charging $10 per person - not for profit, but to secure the registration. All the income would be put towards a bar tab. If you register but don't show up, too bad, we drink it ;-)

So what I am saying is that we already had plans to charge, not as a revenue generator, but as a booking fee. We are tired of booking for 65 and having only 50 showing up - we still pay food as if we had 65 people present.

Thanks anyway...

oldmaknz

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#364447 6-Aug-2010 21:00

More Subscriber incentives *might* help. Would also help to have a CC payment method on-site or through a provider, rather than some kind of Paypal solution. I haven't checked what your using but that's a suggestion. CC number in, away you go. No external sites. Let it save it for recurring payments, or have it as integrated as possible if GZ isn't secure enough. I'm no infosec expert.

Fighting people who use Adblock (like plastering big banners over the forums complaining to users of them, about them) isn't the way to go. You are hurting the very people who are your income, if ads are really that important.

Agree with previous statements -- push subscriptions more (idk if you have a nice integrated, static graphic somewhere in the header saying something like 'Get more with GZ Subscription') and dump the war on adblockers.

freitasm

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#364458 6-Aug-2010 21:16

maknz: You are hurting the very people who are your income, if ads are really that important.

Hmmm. The people that are my income at the moment are the ones that actually don't block the ads.

maknz: dump the war on adblockers.

There's no war on adblockers. If there was a war we would lock them out. We don't do this. We politely asked to consider placing Geekzone on a Whitelist. Some did, some didn't. That's the end of the story.

I am not really interested in the philosophy of having everything for free on the Internet, mainly because I know it doesn't work like that - being a provider means having to pay for every single bit (no pun intended).

oldmaknz

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#364464 6-Aug-2010 21:30

Yet still plaster the header with 'LOL DISABLE ADBLOCK ANNOYNG MESSAGE HERE ^_^'

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